DailynJ Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 Hi all! My name is Dailyn, I'm a college student majoring in biology, and I’m hoping to someday be a marine biologist. I have forever loved all things aquatic, and have an extensive freshwater aquarium keeping history. When I was young, my mother tried maintaining a saltwater aquarium, she cycled it, tested it, and used RODI water, and no matter what all our inhabitants died. I'm hopefully going to try to set up my own saltwater tank around Christmas! Here's a few things you need to know about me and my limitations: I live on the third floor of an apartment, so having a huge aquarium is a no-go for the risk of flooding. Floor support for a larger tank is also a concern. For this reason, I have been considering tanks around 30 gallons, after I found out that 10 gallons are not very stable (I used to have 5 10gal freshwater tanks so I didn't think it would be much different). The risk of flooding also makes me very cautious about having a sump in a stand, so I've been leaning towards aquariums that have sumps in the back of them. I'm a full-time college student, so money is sometimes not very available, and I can be quite busy. I would like to place my tank next to where I sit on the couch, so an ideal footprint would be around 2'x2'. My ideal budget for the setting up of everything for the tank would be around $1,300. This includes items like the sand, rock, test kits, RO/DI system, refractometer, outlets, and whatever. Everything before stocking the tank. I'm doing my research, but simpler would be better. I don't know tons about different kinds of lights, skimmers, wavemakers, and all that. I know some people have great tanks without protein skimmers and ATO systems, so my idea is that if I have simple stuff it could work out too, right? I know some may say I will want to upgrade to a larger system, but I don't know if I will. I already have my hands pretty full with everything as is, but I can't help to be drawn to saltwater reef tanks. So around 30 seems perfect for me. I’m really looking for experiences, advice, recommendations, and opinions. So, if you have something that works great for you, please tell me about it so I can understand why you like it. Aquarium: Considering everything like space, price, aesthetics, and ease, I so far have my sights set on the Coralife Biocube 32. It’s about as perfect in size as I’m going to find, it has a stand, I found a kit that has a lot of the things I want in it, it’s a great price, and I’ve seen many people succeed with it. Here’s the kit that I found: https://www.marineandreef.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RES95667&CartID=1 It comes with a lot of items that I want, which make the price all worth it. A stand Protein skimmer that fits in the back-filter compartments ATO system Wavemaker A water test kit Thermometer Sand I know some people don’t think the lighting is the best, but there are people that have had success with it. I’ll share in a later post what corals I want, so if you have some lights you like, please help me consider them with the corals I want. Upgrading the lighting is something I’m open to, especially since I know these tanks can overheat with their lids on. The heater I plan on going with is the Cobalt Neotherm 150watt heater, as BRS found in their 52 weeks of reefing video that it was the most consistent in temperature out of the heaters they tested. Coralife has also made a UV sterilizer that fits into their systems. In a different kit, this sterilizer was linked: https://www.marineandreef.com/Coralife_BioCube_Mini_UV_Sterilizer_p/res15640.htm I don’t know if this is good enough for this size tank. I tried watching some videos on sterilizers, but they were all for 100+ gallon aquariums so I’m kind of lost. There are higher watts made by this company, which I would prefer to stick to since I know it’ll all fit. I like the idea of a sterilizer because I’ve worked with them before for freshwater and the fact that it can help with algae and pathogen outbreaks is all the selling points I need. I think this tank is perfect for me. There are some drop dead gorgeous set ups with this cube, similar sizes, and other cube brands. The kit is ideal for me as I like the functionality of stands made for aquariums, the protein skimmer which will hopefully do some good, the ATO system for if I need it/if I remove the hood, and the wifi wavemaker. Quote Link to comment
DailynJ Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 RO/DI systems and Water changes: RO/DI system: This is an area that I need a lot of help with. My LFS sells saltwater for $1 a gallon, and if I did weekly 20% water changes that would be around 6 gallons, which is doable. But as I have experienced, emergencies happen, and I don’t want to be unprepared whenever lives are in danger. So I plan on getting an RO/DI system. I have experience with using one at my university, so I know how great they are, but I have no knowledge on setting them up and maintaining them. I live in a state that uses chloramines in the tap water, so that is one of my main concerns. From what I understand, having extra stages can have the resin in it to help remove chloramines. So, would having more than 4 stages be the best choice to keep my reef happy? Here are the systems that I’ve been recommended: Bulk Reef Supply 4 stage system (which I know is a reliable company and has refill options) : https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/4-stage-value-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html Typhoon 5 stage system (more stages are better, right?): https://airwaterice.com/reefkeepers-rodi/typhoon-5-stage-rodi-reefkeeper.html RO Buddie 4 stage (cheapest option, but is it good enough?): https://www.chewy.com/aquatic-life-ro-buddie-four-stage/dp/146155?utm_id=303383086&msclkid=fd6b5d8d6053145157b30018037632dd&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping-Product Targets-Hard Goods-SSP&utm_term=4584688611087146&utm_content=Aquatic Life LiquaGen 4 stage (different than RO buddie???): https://www.amazon.com/LiquaGen-4-Stage-Reverse-Deionization-Portable/dp/B00LKF09IW/ref=pd_cp_60_1/142-3117937-6666338?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00LKF09IW&pd_rd_r=eeff7c3b-7fdb-4a1f-8929-b340bdcf3519&pd_rd_w=DiyYz&pd_rd_wg=Ktb4I&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=Z01XH6NDQFP4D1A0DZEC&psc=1&refRID=Z01XH6NDQFP4D1A0DZEC This is an area where advice would really be appreciated because I’m lost. Once again, I’m thinking about getting a 32-gallon system, so I don’t need anything too big. Water changes: I’ve used a syphon that connects to the sink before, but there was only one sink in my house that it fit, so I had to adapt it to be around 100 feet long to get all my aquariums. I do not want to go through that again. I’ve heard that the python system fits almost every sink. What do you guys use for your water changes? I already have a 20-gallon freshwater tank that I use buckets with, but having a sink connected syphon would be great. I would get different parts that go into the water to avoid any cross-contamination. Having a RO/DI system in my place would be great, but that means that I need to mix my own saltwater. So my plan would be to buy salt at my LFS, get a cobalt neotherm 50watt heater to heat up the water, and use an old powerheat to add flow to the new water. Does this sound like a good enough approach? I could put RO/DI water in a bucket and add the correct amount of salt, and then on water change day just add the heater and powerhead and would be ready to go after a little while. Quote Link to comment
DailynJ Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 Fish stock: With the saltwater aquarium that my mother had whenever I was young, we had a clownfish pair and a watchman goby and pistol shrimp pair. I would love to do this again. The clownfish that I really want to have are the snowflake clowns. I also want to buy a green bubble tip anemone. Do any of you have experience with getting these clowns to host? Do you think the LED lighting that comes with the aquarium will be good enough for a bubble tip? For the goby and shrimp pair, my LFS sells them in pairs, but what kind of goby should I get? I’ve seen then carry the watchman and the wheeler’s goby. I am biased towards the watchman because of childhood sentiment, but what experience do you have? I also want to have a skunk cleaner shrimp. I saw them at my LFS cleaning the clownfish and I kind of fell in love. Those are the inhabitants that I really want to have. Also some feather dusters are definitely on the want list. But here’s a list of inhabitants that I’m interested in, but either have been advised against it or am cautious to keep. Sexy shrimp (been told the fish will eat them) Flame angel (been told the can pick at the coral) Cardinals (been told to keep in a pair, but you can’t tell the gender so it’s a gamble) Pom pom crab Emerald crab (as tank inhabitant, not just algae clean up – been told they pick at coral) I would love to hear any feedback of opinions or experiences with the inhabitants. Quote Link to comment
DailynJ Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 Coral stock Here’s the corals I am really interested in keeping. I know it’s difficult to keep euphyllias with other corals, but I’ve seen others pull it off so hopefully I can too. Green bubble tip anemone Torch coral Grape coral Hammer coral Frogspawn coral Octospawn coral Bubble coral Toadstool coral Pulsing xenia (been told to keep this on its own island near aggressive coral to keep it from being invasive) Zoanthids Duncan coral Green star polyp coral I’ve heard that members of the euphyllia family can go next to each other and not cause any damage, but I’ve also heard to not place torches next to anything. What do you know about this? People have had experience keeping soft coral and LPS corals under the stock lighting of the tank I want, and some have even successfully done SPS. Quote Link to comment
DailynJ Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 Hardscape (sand, rock, and layout): The tank kit I think I’m going to get comes with 12 pounds of CaribSea special grade reef sand, which I’ve heard is good because it has bigger chunks which the pistol shrimp uses to build its burrows. I would obviously need to order some more to achieve the 2” deep distribution along the bottom. I heard that Ocean Direct also has some bigger chunks, but they might be bigger than what I’m looking for. For rock, I plan on going dry. I want to try to eliminate all changes of having pests brought into the tank. With the aquarium my mother had, we had a lot of aiptasia, because we bought from my LFS. I checked recently and all their live rocks have a lot of aiptasia. So, I won’t be getting live rock to avoid that. Bulk Reef Supply carries Reef Saver rock for $2.99 a pound. That’ll bring me to around $95 for rock. I’ve cycle aquariums from scratch before, so cycling won’t be a problem. I also might pick up some ammonia to seed the tank. I usually use the false feeding method, where I remove the food and add new fresh food so it doesn’t get too gross. I wanted the layout of my tank to look something like this (sorry for the bad drawing). I was hoping that having a cave in between the soft and aggressive corals would help keep the softies safe. Placing the torches (and hopefully the anemone if it’ll stay) would be a nice way to fill up the top of the cube, which I’ve heard people have problems with. Let me know what you think of this hardscape. Quote Link to comment
DailynJ Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 List of items that need recommendations: Here are some items that I don’t really have any idea on what to get yet. Do you have any recommendations for them? ATO Reservoir (do you just use a bucket or what?) Fan for Light (too keep it from overheating?) Battery Backup Coral Food Fish Dip (before adding fish to help remove pests) Wavemaker Cover (to keep anemone safe) Dosing (your go to dosing for keeping things in check) Are there any items that you think are must haves? Please let me know. I'm begging for first hand feedback. Quote Link to comment
A.m.P Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 My honest advice would be to slow way down, you don't need a totally-finished setup at retail price and you probably don't need it right now either. (it's going to take months of curing and cycling before the ball is rolling anyway) I recommend heading over to craigslist and the facebook marketplace and seeing what's available locally, biocubes are very frequently being passed on (usually for less than a dollar-per-gallon), plenty of people rush into the hobby and find themselves out of it within a few months sadly, great for those willing to wait for the right tank to come up for the right price (oftentimes $1-per-gallon + gear). I'm also on the third-story of an apartment complex and the prospect of a leak is pretty scary, you could try for an acrylic tank to mostly-avoid the risk (though the initial-investment if not bought secondhand will be hefty compared to glass tanks. The biocube's light is indeed pretty awful, sorry, I recommend watching as many Bulk Reef Supply and Tidal Garden videos as you can and doing a few quick keyword searches here and on R2R to familiarize yourself with some of the equipment and what it all does for your system, especially when it comes to lighting, flow, and, though not gear related, parameters/specific animals. That said Prime HD's are frequently-retrofitted into Biocubes with pretty-great results and can often be found locally for $150 or less with little-to-no mileage on them, alternative lights include PAR38 bulbs, the HIPARGERO on amazon or, if you don't mind the increase in power-consumption and potentially throwing together a hood, some nice ATI T5's or halides. Torches can be very difficult to keep as they have widely-varying care-requirements you'll have to "feel-out"(and I wouldn't put them near anything for their sake and their neighbors'), octospawn are difficult to come-by and frequently run a premium, it's also worth noting that large colonies of these euphyllia-corals will likely grow-out in a fashion which will quickly-occupy most of the space in that tank. So you may want to consider only grabbing one or two of your favorites, especially since the anemone itself can and will eventually fill up most, if not all, of that biocube. Anemones can also be challenging, especially in young or unstable systems and run the risk of taking everything in your tank with them if they go-south. Don't get too caught-up in must-haves or various different bullet-fixes until you find you actually need them, you might find waterchanges to be enough to replenish your alk and cal consumption for quite a while, thus not requiring two-part or dosing systems, as a for-instance. Set the tank up slowly, cycle it and slowly add cuc and inhabitants, you can't jump into the deep end with stocking Reefs as like you can with freshwater. My must haves; A good wavemaker like an aqamai KPS or a similarly-customizable source of random flow A decent protein skimmer (you can find plenty of nano-sized ones secondhand for cheap, no need to grab a $800 piece of industry) A really great light, seriously DON'T skimp here, this is what all your animals will need. Even if it means you get a secondhand tank, use light-diffuser to hang a par bulb, use pantyhose to hold filter-floss, or any other kind of shoddy-looking but small DIY-jank; IT IS WORTH IT. (T5's and/or Metal halides are still great and "inexpensive", depends on the cost of power where you live really haha) I recommend These heaters and I would suggest getting two for redundancy. There aren't really any fish dips (some folks hyposaline or freshwater dip), but I would recommend looking into quarantine-routines and systems alongside the medications people tend to run and why, plenty of keyword searches and threads here alongside videos on youtube which will explain the process better than I can. Coral Dips: Most use a variant or combination of the below. RX Revive Bayer (iodine for when an animal is injured or after-fragging) You can use a UPS for a battery-backup and plenty of folks here use rigged-up water-bottles as ATO's if you're interested, otherwise there are reservoirs of all shapes-and-sizes for them. Angels will pick at corals, supposedly flames and pygmy are "better" about not doing so, wrasses and angels may also eat your shrimp-snails-and crabs (though plenty of other fish will not bother them), Emerald-crabs will sometimes also pick at corals, Cardinalfish can be aggressive towards conspecifics and I don't have a ton of experience with them, sorry. You'll also need a cleanup crew, probably "10" (you'll get this joke if you order from them) dwarf ceriths from Reefcleaners, a few nass, maybe 3 or 4 trochus, and an astrea, alongside a few dwarf hermits (if you want to take the chance with your other inverts) will be likely be enough to start. Expensive corals are pretty, cheap corals are also pretty, large-happy-colonies of corals are beautiful. 2 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 There are other options available besides the biocube, I personally don't care for its light. A lot of ppl upgrade it. You can have a successful 10g, 15g, or 20g reef. Innovative Marine are great tanks but you will need a light for one. There are a lot of options for lighting though. You can get a decent Chinese box that do a great job, many hobbyists go this route and there are brands highly recommended. A skimmer isn't necessary on all tanks, this can be added later if you need it. Some find out they don't need it and having to shut it off due to lack of nutrients. If you are busy an ATO is recommended. Rodi- my water is treated with chloramines, I after a ton of research decided to buy the 4 stage spectrapure and added a cartridge to make it 5 stage. I run sediment filter, reg carbon, chloramine carbon, membrane, and di. Changing filters is different for everyone. The amount of water made, quality of water, even the hardness alters the life of the filters. I have to change sediment and carbons every 4-5mnths, di is lasting 3 months only. It's very convenient making your own water. I started with buying distilled but being able to make my own is far better. I make enough for daily top ups and my weekly waterchanges. Mixing water- I make my buckets of rodi and store them till waterchange day. On waterchange day I add heater, pump. I mix the salt in with a tank dedicated spatula, ensure the sg is correct and let it sit for an hr to 2 mixing. Some salts have specific mixing instructions. I don't use a python. I have a bucket and vacuum my sand and siphon the water into it. I use a top fin vaccum which has a siphon start. All my tanks have their own feeding containers, pipettes, media bags, and vacuums to prevent any contamination. Best advice is do a lot of research. Knowledge is gold in this hobby. Go slow. Buy what you need, not everything is a must. It can be kept simple. Go through journals and TOTM's. Theres tons of great info there. 2 Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 On 10/3/2019 at 4:38 PM, DailynJ said: For rock, I plan on going dry. I want to try to eliminate all changes of having pests brought into the tank. I understand your stated rationale, but this is a common mistake in thinking before you start your first tank. Pests are extremely unlikely, and if you get them they are easy enough to deal with while the tank has no fish or corals. If you have the option, beyond all doubt start with live rock! 😉 The only other thing I can say is to get some books to read on the reefing topic. Anything mentioned on this thread should be great! Chime in with your reef-oriented reading list! On 10/3/2019 at 4:32 PM, DailynJ said: The heater I plan on going with is the Cobalt Neotherm 150watt heater, as BRS found in their 52 weeks of reefing video that it was the most consistent in temperature out of the heaters they tested. This is a good example of "social media information". If all you did was watch that vid you would be left to think that accuracy is what's important about a heater.....which is misleading. Reliability is the ONLY important thing. The plain/real "information" is that all heaters you'd actually want to consider on the basis of reliability are accurate enough. Leave the vids and social media alone when learning this stuff IMO. Forums like this are as close to social media as you should get...also IMO. Nano-reef in particular is a great forum to discuss what you read and what you do. I guess that's my opinion too, but I think everyone reading would agree wit this one. 😉 But it's still possible to get "lost in the info" on the forums. There can be MUCH MUCH conflicting information and opinion that without experience will be very hard to sort out. Having background knowledge from books and magazines (etc) will help A LOT with this. Here's my favorite starter as it's very complete: The Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder by Martin A. Moe Jr. 2 Quote Link to comment
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